For this, my 7th year observing National Bundt Day by baking an original-recipe cake, I had very little idea what would happen. But I had leftover lemon avocado buttercream in my refrigerator and love in my heart. I also had a bag of cacao nibs and, like many of you I’m sure, any hint of a mention of the word “cacao” brings to mind one thing.

Thus, in all its quirky, vegan, repurposing, cacao-inclusive glory, the Portlandia Bundt was born. read more

The Guy and I needed to obtain a copy of a document recorded in San Diego County. We could have requested it online, but the turnaround time stated on the county website for documents to be mailed is “several weeks”, a timeframe as impractical as it is ambiguous. So we decided to throw the dogs in the car and take a quick roadtrip; drive down Sunday, visit the recorder’s office Monday morning, spend the rest of the day enjoying a bit of San Diego, and drive home Tuesday. read more

This recipe was born of my sourdough starter threatening to gain sentience and run away with one of the backyard squirrels if I left it alone any longer, and my sincere belief that I could not refrain from stabbing myself in the face with a railroad spike if I had to make another banana chip. read more

Once upon a way back when, in the early days of the website, I created a section called The Gallery of Goofs, Spoofs, and Outtakes. Later, this gallery spawned The Terrible Tues(days) over on Ye Olde Facebook Page. You have probably guessed by now that both of these exist to showcase just a few of the many things that do not go according to plan during any given photo shoot. read more

Imagine it’s November 2015, and you are someone who, for the previous four years, has baked an original recipe Bundt cake in observation of National Bundt Cake Day, which is November 15.

Now let’s fill in some imagine-time details. Close your eyes, and picture a calendar showing November 17. Picture your kitchen counter, showing no sign of any remnants of the cake you baked two days before, because you didn’t bake one. Picture a bunch of odds & ends in your refrigerator and cabinets from various other baking you’ve been doing. Picture yourself just done with the whole idea of ever baking anything else ever for all ever time again ever because you are seriously over carbs and sweets and frosting and you’re already dreading all the Christmas baking you’re going to start in a few weeks. Picture your doneness, your sorrow, your angst, your dread. Now close your eyes a little harder, and picture what you know in your heart will make all of that better. read more

I have been celebrating National Bundt Cake Day by baking an original recipe Bundt every year since 2011. 2015 was not an easy year, the streak almost came to an end, but I persevered and in 2016 headed into November with not only a perfect record but actually prepared. As in, thanks to my phone making notes for me 10 months in advance, I was reminded on November 8th that I needed to shop for the unique ingredients necessary to make the cake a friend on my Facebook page had suggested, a Bundt version of a Harvey Wallbanger. read more

A few months back, I was setting up a new iPad, and had to create an account in order to complete the setup. They didn’t ask for terribly much information, but they did ask for one piece of information that I was not able to provide.

They asked for my “title”. It was a required field, my choices were

Mr.
Mrs.
Ms.
Dr.

and it would not let me continue setting up the account until I had selected one of those. Which, for me, was a problem. read more

Now, the fact there is an Instagram that exists, on which my friends can post these things, that is found on the Internet, told me my initial suspicion was correct, but I glanced at the upper right corner of my 27” iMac just in case. Sure enough, it’s the year 2016. read more

There are not many nice ways to say this, so I’m just going to say it as simply and directly as I can; science has a tendency to get a little up its own ass and consequently suck at PR.

Not to say that isn’t an understandable thing. When your job is to figure out what could be, the tendency to distance yourself from what is becomes a necessity. Case in point, Nikola Tesla. When your head says “I know how we can pull electricity out of the air and make it free for everyone” while the world around you is saying “This person is going to die from a minor flesh wound because Neosporin hasn’t been invented yet” chances are good you’re going to fall in love with a pigeon. There’s only so much the human brain can do as far as coexisting between The Is and The Possible before something has to give. read more

Last year, as I was putting together a few last-minute things for the holidays, these happened:

Yes, I jumped aboard the Mason jar gift trend train, whipped up a batch of just-add-water microwave mug cake mix, added some festive fabric and ribbon and a cute little instruction card, and just like that, three gifts done. For women.

And that’s where I paused. For women. It is so easy to do this sort of thing for women. We love cake that happens in 40 seconds. We love cute. We love the little glass Universe of infinite possibility that is the Mason jar gift.

So I said to my best friend, who happened to be nearby and happens to be a guy, “We should do stuff like this for guys. Guys like stuff in containers, right? We should do Mason jar gifts for them.” read more

The basics, from not watering your lawn and flower garden to wearing your clothes more than once before laundering and, to put it delicately, letting things mellow, are no longer sufficient to keep California running.

(And before you say “well I don’t live there, so it doesn’t matter to me” allow me to point out that yes, it very much does matter to you. The California Central Valley, on less than 1% of the nation’s farmland, produces 8% of the nation’s agricultural output. And 90% of the nation’s avocados. So if you ever want to see your guacamole again, you’ll help us out.) read more